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John Waters is never wrong
In new book, the ‘filth elder’ has an opinion on just about everything
John Waters, pictured here at home in Baltimore, is back with a new book ‘Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder.’ (Los Angeles Blade photo by Michael Key)
John Waters has had underwhelming meals in overpriced restaurants – so you don’t have to.
He’s been caught in long airport security lines. He’s taken the BoltBus to New York City and been delayed while the driver took a dump in the on-board restroom. He’s had to sit in a doctor’s waiting room with an embarrassing ailment and been barraged with questions from other patients who recognize him and demand to know what he’s got.
Now the Baltimore-based filmmaker and writer, who just turned 73, has put all of those experiences and more into a book of opinions and advice, presumably so people won’t have to endure what he has. Called “Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder,” it’s his ninth book, and it came out this week. He’s described it as “my opinion on everything” and “how to avoid respectability at 70 years old.”
Readers will discover that “Mr. Know-It-All” isn’t just a book about coping with life’s indignities and humiliations, even though there’s plenty of guidance about that. It’s also part memoir, part celebrity tell-all, and part movie industry guidebook with separate chapters about each of his last seven films, all filmed in Baltimore (“Polyester,” “Hairspray,” “Cry-Baby,” “Serial Mom,” “Pecker,” “Cecil B. Demented” and “A Dirty Shame.”)
The book is filled with anecdotes about many of the actors he’s worked with, including Kathleen Turner, Johnny Depp, Tracey Ullman and, of course, Divine. There’s the time Waters turned down Brad Pitt at an audition for “Cry-Baby” because Pitt was too handsome to be cast as Depp’s sidekick – a decision that he thinks makes him perhaps “the only director who ever said no to Brad Pitt.” He remembers that Rikki Lake lost her virginity halfway through “Cry-Baby;” how he called Tab Hunter out of the blue to star in “Polyester,” and how he battled with motion picture censors to let him use the word “Pecker” as a movie title.
Other readers may be drawn to his essays about non-cinematic subjects, which range from art collecting and Brutalist architecture to Yippie protests, Andy Warhol, and taking LSD at 70. In one chapter, he names the one female he has adored since childhood. In another, he imagines returning to the apartment he lived in during the 1960s – a sign that, in some cases, you can go home again (especially when you still live in the town where you grew up.)
“Mr. Know-It-All is here to tell you exactly how to live your life,” he writes early in the book. “I’m never wrong.”
Though the title says it’s a book of wisdom, this is not a rehashed litany of someone else’s platitudes. All the advice he offers grows out of his own experiences. As a result, readers gain insights into the maker of “Pink Flamingos” and “Female Trouble” by learning what he’s gone through and how he dealt with it.
One of those insights is that Waters can be quite frugal and down to earth. He not only takes the inexpensive BoltBus to New York but also goes to a Laundromat when he spends the summers in Provincetown. (And of course, he hitchhiked across the country and wrote about it in his bestseller, “Carsick.”)
In many of his stories, Waters reveals a knack for handling even the most humiliating situations with humor and aplomb. He also says he licks important packages before he puts them in the mail – “to remove any ‘curse’ of show business rejection” – and instructs his staff to do the same. In the LSD chapter, he mentions texting “my boyfriend,” whom he never names.
Waters in on a national tour to launch his book, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. West Coast stops include ticketed events at The Green Arcade at the McRoskey Mattress Loft, 1687 Market Street in San Francisco on May 30 at 7 p.m., and Book Soup at The Renberg Theatre (Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Village), 1125 N, McCadden Place in Los Angeles on June 1 at 7 p.m.
Waters recently sat down at his home for an interview with the Blade to talk about his book and his life as a filth elder. The interview has been condensed.
John Waters’s new book shows ‘how to avoid respectability at 70 years old.’ (Los Angeles Blade photo by Michael Key)
BLADE: A good alternative title for your book would be “The Influencer,” don’t you think? How To Win Friends and Influence People 2?
JOHN WATERS: I’m Norman Vincent Peale, you’re saying?
BLADE: You do give a lot of advice: Come up with a gimmick. Have backup plans. Get at least one other person to believe in you. Sound advice, with a John Waters twist.
WATERS: I agree with that totally.
BLADE: Why an advice book?
WATERS: Well, I always kind of parody things, so I thought an advice book coming from me would be kind of a parody in the first place. I needed that kind of genre to be able to talk about all the things I wanted to talk about.
In some ways it’s like “Shock Value” because “Shock Value” ended right before we made “Polyester,” so this has the rest of the movies in it. But I also wrote it from a viewpoint of how to tell young filmmakers how to deal with Hollywood and what happens and all that kind of stuff, and how you fail upward. And then the other subjects I had to put in — about love, about fashion, about art, about death, about every possible thing. But to talk about them all, you need a theme that runs through the whole thing, so that’s how I came up with [giving] advice.
Do I expect every person to follow my advice? No, but I believe that I gave good advice. It’s not really told ironically. I believe everything I say in it. But I hoped to write a humorous book at the same time.
BLADE: Who are you giving advice to?
WATERS: I’m giving advice, first of all, to the people that like my work, because they’re hopefully the first people that buy the book. Secondly, even if you don’t know anything about me, I’m giving advice to younger people about how to handle what’s coming, failure and success, in your life if you’ve chosen to be in the arts in any way. So I think I’m trying to give advice to anybody probably younger than me, because older than me are dead, you know. And I tell you how to beat that too.
BLADE: You’re not writing just for the hardcore fans?
WATERS: No, not at all. If you’re never seen any of my movies, you can still read the book.
BLADE: A lot of your fans may be the ‘others’ in society, those who don’t fit in or conform, the people in “Desperate Living” and other movies.
WATERS: The people that used to be the ‘others’ in society are often now the leaders. Everybody wants to be the ‘other’ now. They didn’t used to. Even Trump would probably want to be an outsider. Obama thought he was an outsider. Everybody wants to be an outsider, and I want to be an insider. I said that in “Make Trouble,” that it’s more fun to cause trouble from within. Which is what “Hairspray” did.
BLADE: But a lot of the others aren’t the ones who would typically be disposed to take advice.
WATERS: Maybe from me they might.
BLADE: Why should someone follow your advice?
WATERS: You don’t have to. I think you could read the book and not follow one bit of it and still enjoy the book. You don’t have to. I don’t expect anybody to, really.
BLADE: Your advice grows out of your experiences. It’s not warmed-over Norman Vincent Peale. And because it comes from within, your advice in turn provides insights into you.
WATERS: I always thought that is a joke, that book, which I probably never read. But my parents had it and it was such a thing then that it became a joke in a way. That same title could apply to this book.
BLADE: The other thing about your advice is, you chronicle all the ways you’ve suffered indignities. You’ve had bad dinners at good restaurants. You’ve had bad seats on international flights. You’ve been harassed at the doctor’s office.
WATERS: I’m also saying all the wonderful things that happened to me. So basically, there are different kinds of problems. It is a high-class problem to worry about being recognized in a doctor’s office. It’s the one time that it’s really bad to be seen. Although, if you weren’t [famous], you wouldn’t have gotten the appointment. So in the long run, it isn’t bad.
BLADE: Do bad things happen to you more than most, like Joe Btfsplk in “Li’l Abner?”
WATERS: No. I say in the book, not one bad thing has ever happened to me from being famous, in any way. It really hasn’t. I mean, high-class problems, some of the things I talk about. But, generally, I can bitch about flying all the time. Bitch about first class, which is really bold. But I get to fly all the time, and I don’t pay for it. But I’m working, you know? So I’m trying to tell people that when bad things happen to them, they can use it and how they can appreciate it and how they can look back on it and it doesn’t mean really anything terrible.
BLADE: You bring up all these universal things that anybody can identify with, and you’ve come out on the other side, none the worse for wear from the indignities you’ve suffered.
WATERS: Everybody has indignities.
BLADE: Are you more sensitive to things than others?
WATERS: No, I don’t think so. I think I notice them more and it’s more, like, ludicrous, some of the problems that you get from being known.
BLADE: And then you use it for comic relief.
WATERS: Yeah, comic relief. In my own life, even.
BLADE: Is there one disappointment that tops them all?
WATERS: I only regret one thing, smoking cigarettes. It’s the only thing I regret in life. Because I’ll probably die from it. I mean, I don’t have cancer, but I’m just saying that, both my parents died from some form of cancer. They were 90 though. They had a long, good life. So, yes, I regret smoking cigarettes.
BLADE: You lived through all these indignities, and that’s a sign that others can too.
WATERS: The other day in New York somebody yelled at me, a homeless person, ‘You’re still alive?’ Which really made me laugh. I thought, ‘Well, yes I am, are you?’
BLADE: You and the Queen of England ought to compare notes.
WATERS: She probably has some really good ones.
BLADE: Is this book political?
WATERS: Sure it is. All humor is political. And this book, definitely. I have a whole chapter, ACT BAD, which is really [suggesting ways] to go further than ACT UP did. I think comedy is political, trying to get you to laugh at things. I think every chapter in this book is political.
But the worst way you can be political [is to] rant. If you get people to laugh, they’ll listen. If you lecture, in a strident tone, like Elizabeth Warren, no one will pay attention. Even though I totally agree with her politics, I hate to hear her talk. She’s never said a funny thing in her life. So the thing is, it’s important, if you want to change people’s minds, to make them laugh. It’s the first way to get their attention.
BLADE: Does your book have any bombshells in it? Landing Tab Hunter for “Polyester?” Not casting Brad Pitt when he auditioned?
WATERS: That’s not up to me to say. The only thing I could think in there, maybe, is the [taking] LSD thing, in a way. That’s the stunt of the book. That’s something that I did that I thoroughly enjoyed. I think if there’s a sentimental chapter in the book about friendship, then maybe that is that. If I had known how strong the LSD was that I took, I probably would have been uptight. But I didn’t and it was great. I spent eight months getting the right acid from the purest source I could find, practically from Timothy Leary’s asshole. The Blade can print that. But the provenance of it was high and it was great. I don’t have to ever do it again. Just like I don’t have to ever hitchhike across the country again. Why would I? I did it. I don’t know if that’s newsworthy, but that would be, maybe.
BLADE: You had a big build-up about it in the book: We don’t know what this is going to do to us. And then you stopped hallucinating and it was OK and the sun rose…
WATERS: It was more than OK. It was great. I never had a bad experience when I was young, or I probably would have never done it. What I wanted to see is, what is it like to do it now, when I’m 70 years old? I certainly would never imagine that many 70-year-olds try to take acid. Especially if you haven’t done it since you were young.
BLADE: Do people still take LSD?
WATERS: Oh yeah. All the young people now do micro-doses. All the people that work in Google. All the tech kids take teeny doses of it. But not many 70-year-olds take it. People I know don’t take it.
BLADE: You write that you tried to get transgender pioneer Christine Jorgensen in a movie. That’s something probably a lot of people don’t know. You’ve sprinkled in all kinds of things that are going to be part of your lore.
WATERS: There are lots of things that people don’t know. But I don’t know that that means it’s Stop the Press. Most everything in the book is probably new information to most people.
BLADE: Who do you wish had been in one of your movies but never was?
WATERS: Always Meryl Streep. But I would have had to stop her from doing a Baltimore accent. And she would have done it brilliantly.
BLADE: Did you have a part for her?
WATERS: You know, at times, any of those movies she could have been in, yeah. We’ve met before, maybe a couple of times, at parties. She’s lovely. But she didn’t say, ‘Oh, I’ve been dying to work with you.’
BLADE: Roseanne Barr has come up.
WATERS: Well, Roseanne, when I dealt with her, she was a liberal. Completely. Yes, she came up a couple of times. I was friendly with her.
BLADE: For “Serial Mom?”
WATERS: Yeah. “And A Dirty Shame.” She was possible for that at one point. So, I was always friends with a liberal. I did her show and everything. Traci Lords was on her show. Who knows? I don’t know. I guess she’s just on the Internet too much.
BLADE: Who was the greatest delight to work with?
WATERS: They all were a delightful, in a way. I mean, making movies is horrible. I say that in the book. Basically, it’s not fun, because there’s so much pressure and you have to do something every day and we’re not going to get this shot and it’s going to be over budget. But they all were team players. That’s what I can say they were.
Somebody said about my mother after she died: She was game. And they were game. They had to be game, to come with us, come to Baltimore, especially joining a group of people that had known each other for 30 years, a lot of them. I didn’t have any trouble with any of them. They were pros. But we were pros to them. I think I was prepared. I knew what to do. It wasn’t like we mistreated them. And they sort of got into the spirit of it.
BLADE: Would you do a word association? Kathleen Turner.
WATERS: A pro. Still see her. Great actress. Stage. Screen. Movies. She could play men, women, anybody with great conviction.
BLADE: Johnny Depp from “Cry-Baby.”
WATERS: I’m on his new album, I hear. I’m not sure how. I remember I talked to him on the phone with Alice Cooper recently and he said: Say this. I don’t remember what I said, so I guess they put it in the album like when I did in The Creep [a song with Nicki Minaj]. Johnny Depp was always a pro with me.
BLADE: Tab Hunter.
WATERS: Well, he voted for Reagan, you know. He used to shock me. He was for Trump, too. He used to laugh when he told me, because he knew how crazy it made me. I love Tab. You know, that’s the thing. He was from a different era. Completely from a different era.
BLADE: Was he like Rock Hudson?
WATERS: Rock Hudson, I don’t know if he was a Republican. Tab, I think was always a Republican. Oh yeah, he was in the closet forever. He had to be. It was illegal. You know. He was loved by every woman in America. It would have ruined his career. And he wrote about all that in his book.
BLADE: Did he write about you?
WATERS: Yeah. He was lovely. I stayed friends with him right up until the end. I just talked to his husband recently. Tab was great. He was a team player too. Lovely to Divine. Matter of fact, he liked the experience so much he went and made a movie with Divine afterwards, called “Lust in the Dust.”
BLADE: Andy Warhol?
WATERS: I remember him at the Baltimore Museum of Art meeting Edith [Massey] and saying, where did you find her? And he was very supportive. He took Fellini to see “Pink Flamingos.” He put Divine on the cover of Interview. He was always supportive.
BLADE: Mink Stole. You named her?
WATERS: Her real name is Nancy Stoll. S-t-o-l-l. I knew her forever. I met her in Provincetown. She was early in my films. She was a character actress, always. She usually played Divine’s enemy. We’ve been friends forever and ever. And I think she’s a really good actor. She still works all the time.
BLADE: Any way to sum up Divine, 31 years after his death?
WATERS: He gets more and more famous as the years go by. And he’d still rather be here. He’d be pissed he’s dead. I’m still shocked he’s dead. I still am. That’s still a shock. But, it’s kind of amazing. Well, we’re all being buried in the same graveyard where he is, you know, all my friends. Obviously, he is still with us.
BLADE: You’ve been good to the guys who commissioned the Divine mural in Baltimore, Jesse Salazar and Tom Williams.
WATERS: They were lovely. Why wouldn’t I be?
BLADE: Your book has only one chapter that’s named after a female.
WATERS: Betsy.
BLADE: The finger-painting chimp from the Baltimore zoo. You reveal this life-long love affair that you’ve kept secret until now.
WATERS: Well, I didn’t have sex with Betsy. I want to make sure that people understand that.
BLADE: You wrote a chapter about her appearances on TV and about The Golden Age of Monkey Art, which she inspired.
WATERS: I just remembered her in that dress and getting national attention and being all over the country. She was on Garry Moore, who was from Baltimore, too.
BLADE: In the last chapter, you write about death and dying, specifically about your death. You try to imagine what happens after you die, and you go back and visit your first apartment at 315 E. 25th Street in Baltimore. Why so morbid?
WATERS: Is it morbid? I don’t think it’s morbid. I think, who at 70-some years old doesn’t think about that?
BLADE: Why such a potential downer?
WATERS: You think it’s a downer? I don’t think it’s a downer… I think everybody at 73 [thinks about death], and I think my friends think about it more than I do. I don’t think about it that much. But you can’t help it when you go to funerals and you think, I am 73, you know, something is going to get you. So I tried to just imagine beating it, how I could be such a control freak that I would refuse to die. And I do always dream about that apartment, so it is just a fantasy of what happens after you die.
But it was to me dealing with the one subject that you’re really not supposed to joke about or kind of focus on. To think about it was sort of liberating in a way, to go through the whole thing. Except that I want to be sure that just because I write something here to be funny, it doesn’t mean that I want my heirs to follow every single thing. Like I say in there, I don’t want something funny on my tombstone. So, I don’t know. I thought it was optimistic. I beat death in it in a way, spiritually at least. That’s optimistic.
BLADE: How is your health?
WATERS: My health is fine.
BLADE: You didn’t write the book to fight death?
WATERS: Well, you write all books to fight death. I mean, I’ve never been as busy as I am. I have more projects than I’ve ever had in my entire life.
BLADE: You don’t name in the book any kind of significant other or life partner.
WATERS: And I never would. Because every person I’ve ever been involved with…doesn’t want to be public. I wouldn’t want somebody that would want to do the red carpet with me. I don’t want a groupie. I don’t want a fan. I want somebody that has their own life.
BLADE: Do you have a partner?
WATERS: Yes, I do.
BLADE: Is that in the book?
WATERS: Obliquely.
BLADE: You don’t want to say who it is?
WATERS: If you don’t keep some things private, you don’t have a personal life. It’s the same thing I say, I have some restaurant receipts that are not tax-deductible. That means I have a personal life. When I read celebrities are telling everything, I think, don’t you have any friends?
BLADE: Your book is so wide ranging it makes one wonder what you’re saving for the next one. After “Mr. Know-It-All,” what is there to write about?
WATERS: Do I have any stories left? Well, I’m writing a novel. I’m on page 64. So, yes, there’s stuff to write about.
BLADE: Is that why your next book is fiction, because you’ve exhausted the autobiography?
WATERS: I’ve written 17 movies. They‘re fiction. The first part of “Carsick” was fiction, too, except that I was in it. That makes it a lot easier. I had never written a novel, so I wanted to try it.
BLADE: Are you ever going to slow down?
WATERS: I hope not. I don’t need to slow down. I like what I’m doing. I don’t know. I guess when I drop dead, I’ll have to.
John Waters (Los Angeles Blade photo by Michael Key)
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Ellen Greene returns to ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ for the film’s 40th anniversary
Ellen Greene reflects on her role as Audrey and her support and activism for the LGBTQ community, which started at the beginning of her career
It is 40 years since the release of the movie version of the Off-Broadway show, Little Shop of Horrors. To celebrate the 40th Anniversary, Ellen Greene, who of course originated the role of Audrey, is embarking on a nationwide tour, arriving in Riverside, CA at the Fox Performing Arts Center on Friday, August 14. The evening will include a screening of the film preceded by a Q&A with Ms. Greene and a performance of the enduring hit, “Somewhere That’s Green.”
It is not difficult to appreciate why Ellen Greene was the perfect choice for Audrey or why the character has such an enduring appeal to audiences and, maybe more so, LGBTQ+ fans. It would be easy to underestimate or dismiss Audrey as a simpleton and victim. Yet, the character is “way more complicated than that,” according to Greene. “She’s been engaged in life, she’s seen stuff, and she’s not someone who hasn’t been around. She knows what it’s like to be different, to feel shunned and not part of a plural. So, I guess, you know, like minds attract. Audrey is seeking love, but life has told her she doesn’t deserve it. But she’s kind and talented and compassionate and appreciates people for who they are.” There appears to be a lot of Greene imbued in Audrey.
Greene has been an active and devoted ally to the LGBTQ+ community for decades. In fact, I first met her when she agreed to do a benefit for Los Angeles’ LGBTQ+ theatre company, Celebration Theatre, twelve years ago. When reminded about it, she recalled all the details without hesitation. “Well, doing that was a great memory for me.” She went on to recall that her support and activism started at the beginning of her career. “My first friend in New York happened to be gay (back in 1972). And, so many of the people around me from the beginning of my career were gay men. My first job was a bus and truck (show) where I learned several important things that I am not going to go into!” She described meeting and working with so many gay men, “all of the gigantic talents, all of these people that nobody knows, but to me they were huge and magnificent.” And then, in the 1980s, the AIDS crisis emerged and one by one she found herself having to be there for her friends, to care for them, to accompany them, just be there or help them. “It’s made me aware of how important it is to appreciate, to be kind and be loving and tell and show people who matter to me how much I cherish them.”
Not many actors have originated a role in an Off-Broadway or Broadway musical, never mind one that also appears on the big screen or endures for 40 years. In fact, Little Shop of Horrors is currently experiencing another life at the Westside Theatre in NYC. Ellen shared with us some thoughts and memories about playing Audrey and making the film after so many years.
Tell us about creating Audrey, and did you change anything for the film?
Uh, well, first off, a lot! I always do instinct first, so it’s how it feels to be the character inside, to create a soul. It becomes a presence in my body, and so you see what comes out as a result. Audrey is also a sexual being. The first Audreyism that comes out in the film is the squeak. That came out of a rehearsal with my original Seymour when he said something differently, and it came out of me in response. In the play, Audrey often plays things bigger because she’s performing to the audience. In the film, she’s playing to Seymour (or the other characters), so this was more revealing and intimate and shows how she reacts to him as a sexual being. Then, when we did “Somewhere That’s Green,” it goes into her dream of a home and family and what makes a house a home. You get to see the child inside with the dream of what a happy life looks like for her as a woman.
What was it like working with the creative team behind the film?
There was so much British talent behind the scenes! We filmed it at Pinewood Studios. Frank (Oz, the Director) was very kind to me. He let me be there on set, so I got to see things like Levi Stubbs recording. It created a camaraderie over the 9 months of hard work. Paul Anglin did my makeup. He started out trying the usual heroine makeup, but we wound up using the stage makeup because he didn’t feel the usual was playing right. The crew was just stunning. A valuable thing I learned in the theatre was leaving your ego at the door. On a film, you do your little job, and everyone is a cog in a big wheel, so everyone is important. When you have so much talent, special things happen. Working with Alan (Menken) and, of course, Howard (Ashman, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1991) was special. Howard was one of the last “book writers.” He knew what he did, he did well. He was a writer, he was a director, and he was a lyricist. And he was very smart, and he was one of my dearest friends, and one of the wonderful things about this tour and about people loving Little Shop, it’s like that bell rings and you remember he’s an angel and he got his wings.
The movie has an incredible cast. Can you share what it was like to be a part of this cast?
Unbelievable! It helped that I knew many of them. John Candy. Oh my God. I did his last film. And SCTV. Rick Moranis, he was wonderful and funny. And Tichina (Arnold), Tisha (Campbell) and Michelle (Weeks) were all so young. And I took them under my wing, and I love them, and they were so great to sing to. During “Suddenly Seymour,” I know I’m singing to Rick, but I was also singing to the girls. Singing in the opening shot was so magical, and they were amazing. Then there’s Vincent Gardenia, the best Mushnik ever. He was just the kindest. He was so great in the role and so great to work with. All the minor characters, John Candy, Jim Belushi, Steve Martin! Amazing talents. Steve and I became great friends. He’s a brilliant talent. He knew me from before; he saw me in the play when he came with Mary Tyler Moore!
Any last thoughts about the legacy of Little Shop of Horrors as you embark on the 40th Anniversary Tour and why audiences continue to connect to this story?
It’s really a story that we can all relate to. We relate to these characters, this mystical, magical world full of whimsy that seems very simple but is complex, and it has deep underpinnings that reflect our own lives. Yes, it’s larger than life, but these people are real, and we all desire the same things. We don’t want to be treated badly or abused. We want to have a place where we feel comfortable and can be our authentic selves. Be loved and to love and to have a nest that feels like home.
Somewhere That’s Green.
Little Shop of Horrors 40th Anniversary Screening
Fri • Aug 14, 2026 • 7:00 PM Fox Performing Arts Center, Riverside, CA
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Laverne Cox Is ‘Transcendent’ At Madame Tussauds Hollywood
The actress/activist celebrates her new book with her history-making statue
At this point, Laverne Cox has made history countless times. The Orange Is the New Black star was the first trans woman to get nominated for an Emmy (as an actor), subsequently win an Emmy, and become a series regular. She is also the first transgender person to receive a wax figure at international celebrity haven Madame Tussauds.
Now she’s poised to share her history with a memoir, the aptly titled Transcendent. We were on the scene as she celebrated this last Pride with Madame Tussauds, which unveiled her statue now with a fresh outfit and held an exclusive signing at their rooftop restaurant and bar. That’s right, you can dine with statues of Zendaya, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Will Smith.
She took time to talk with the Blade about everything from the writing process to Pride, and in true Laverne Cox fashion, was able to quickly list off important anti-trans legislation, quote bell hooks, and offer inspiring words of wisdom.
Watching Cox meet her wax figure, now decked out in the Collina Estrada gown she wore to the 2022 People’s Choice Awards, was an introduction to the dynamic icon that Cox is. She makes a joke about being 10 pounds thinner after the 10 years since her statue was first released. She quickly follows up with, “I’ve internalized my own fat phobia. It’s about embracing the parts of me that are not perfect. I wasted so much time being hard on myself. I could have just been living life.”
Cox is a testament to the power of words and the importance of intersectionality. It’s never lost on her that her platform is an opportunity to speak truth to power. She’s also just authentically herself as she quips, “I was not going to send them anything from my Mugler collection.” The actress was decked out in Mugler and famously collects fashions by French designer Thierry Mugler.
“It’s hard to put into words. All these things people don’t know about me are now in print. It’s all out there and not about my ego.” Cox adds. “That is incredibly humbling. Me being humble is the best possible thing. It makes me right-sized. How my life can be of service to someone else, this is the biggest reminder of that.”
Her special Pride message to the community was educational and nuanced. Cox is always quick to put things into a political context, which, given where we are, is important. She starts,
“It’s rough right now. This regime is attempting to take away a lot of rights of LGBTQIA plus people. Overnight, 1700 or so trans people in Kansas found out their driver’s licenses were no longer valid because they’re trans. They had to get new IDs that reflected the gender they were assigned at birth. IDS actually should reflect who you are.”
“I’m old enough to remember when trans people weren’t able to change their passports, and the nightmares that I heard from trans people when they would travel, they were like, ‘Well, this says male, and you’re a woman. What’s going on?’ And the horrors of being strip-searched, being accosted, and arrested. So there’s like lots of dangers.”
She was quick to highlight the importance of this in a historical context. She adds, “There are over 1000 anti-trans bills that were introduced on a federal level, and over 700 that were introduced on the state level in 2025 alone. Trans Legislation Tracker is a great website for people who ask what laws, what policies.”
After the important historical and political context she brings it back, “So the message for the fam is that we are built from resilience, we are built from a legacy of ancestors who, in the face of all kinds of discrimination, all kinds of criminalization, found a way to be there for each other, found a way to access healthcare legally or by other means, and we created underground railroads of resources. We were there for each other, and we found a way to be joyous to create some of the most amazing culture the world has seen in the face of all kinds of discrimination; that’s our legacy.”
“So we should remember that we’re resilient people and we’re gonna get through this and we have to do it together, and whenever I think about that, I’m invigorated.” There’s a fundamentally hopeful spiritual tone to much of Cox’s words. She’s always been the type to educate and illuminate, but her hope for the future and her joy are palpable. Could it be the transcendent nature of writing a memoir?
About the title of her book, Cox adds, “I was a freshman in high school, and discovered the concept of transcendentalism. I was like, ‘This is cool. This is what I’ve been going through my whole life.’ Transcend other people’s expectations or limitations that they may put on me because of where I was born, what I was assigned at birth, because I was black, because I was working class.”
Cox explains more of the spiritual context: “I want to transcend. It is a very spiritual thing for me. When you peel away all the armor and all defenses that I’ve put up to survive. Yes, identity is important because of history, Race matters, gender matters, sexual orientation matters because of oppression in politics. But we are all spirits beyond all this stuff, and for me, I want to exist in that anointed, transcendent space beyond all of these categories.”
Ever the mindful orator, she’s quick to clarify that this transcendence is not at the expense of her identity; she continues, “I love my blackness, my transness, not because of the historical context of it, but because of the community of it. God, to be black and trans at the same time is iconic. All of black trans lingo is mainstream now, like, and just so many other things. It’s iconic to be black and trans from a historical perspective, from a community perspective. I’m also more than that. That transcendent anointed spirit is what it’s about, you know?”
Despite her career in acting, Cox has always wielded her words with the precision of the perfect intersection of a diplomat, professor, and an Olivia Pope-level PR executive. When asked about the power of words, she shares, “One of my favorite quotes from bell hooks is from her book, Yearning; it’s ‘language is also a place of struggle.’ …The oppressed struggle with language to find ourselves, and our words are not without meaning; they’re an action, a resistance. So language is so powerful, and when we can be exacting and precise with language, it can be something that’s very liberatory and really free.” It’s worth noting that she quoted the entire paragraph from hooks.
She adds, “I remember finally embracing the word trans, which I talk about in the book, how liberating it was for me to finally not be running from who I was, who I knew I was my entire life, but just being in a space of acceptance that language gave me. Accepting that language for myself gave me freedom, a clarity that I didn’t really have before.”
So what was the writing process like for such a gifted speaker? “Torture. That’s my one-word answer. It was torturous, because I didn’t want to write a book and not talk about what really happened and how difficult it was, particularly my childhood, and I didn’t want to bs if I was going to write a memoir.”
Despite the toil of writing the book, she’s happy it’s able to help the people who read it. She adds, “But now that the book is out and people are reading, and I’ve gotten so many messages from friends, acquaintances, colleagues over the years who’ve read it in two days, and like they were like, I cried, you know, and I was so moved, I couldn’t put it down. I connected because of this part of your story or that part of your story, and it’s just, and it’s giving some people language for things that they went through in their childhood, like dissociation, that they didn’t have the language for, and that’s really cool.”
Her parting words, like so many that she shares, are inspirational: “In these times, getting to share space with my people is so revitalizing. The love we have for outsiders and justice and freedom is everything.”
Transcendent is now available for purchase, and her revamped statue is on display at Madame Tussauds Hollywood.
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OutfestNEXT shows us the true power of queer cinema
Outfest promises a new lineup of revolutionary LGBTQ+ films at this year’s festival
When Nicole Kidman said ‘We come to this place for magic,’ she was referring to queer cinema.
From John Waters to The Watermelon Woman, since the film industry began, queer artists have used this medium as a way to amplify their stories. This definitely wasn’t an easy task — in fact, for half of the industry’s existence, portraying our communities onscreen would have been considered a felony. Yet these storytellers risked their safety to ensure others had the representation they needed. It’s because of them that viewers today can see their identities in the media, with every project contributing to the ongoing fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
Each of these early queer artists showed the power that comes from making your dreams a reality (even when you have an entire government telling you to stop). They established a legacy of radical representation in film, one that audiences can see firsthand every year at the OutfestNEXT film festival.
Founded in 1983, Outfest has always fought to give LGBTQ+ filmmakers the opportunities they’re so often denied. The organization does this in many ways, from educational programs to local screenings, but there’s one event that has come to define their advocacy: OutfestNEXT. An annual film festival for LGBTQ+ films and the people who love them, the LA Blade spoke with Interim Executive Director Christopher Racster as he prepared for the 2026 iteration. He beamed throughout the conversation, excitedly discussing the many projects they’d be screening this year and the surprises his team has in store. He grew more serious as he spoke about the attacks LGBTQ+ media has seen in recent years, but he also wanted to make one thing clear: making queer film has never been easy.
It has always required a willingness to fight against hatred and a fearless commitment to authentic storytelling. A commitment that the Outfest staff try to embody every single day, especially right now as they prepare to do more for LGBTQ+ creatives than they ever have before.
“It’s tough to get your film made — it’s tougher when you’re queer,” began Racster, as he spoke about the role Outfest plays for LGBTQ+ artists. “That’s why we continue to invest in filmmaker education and mentoring. Part of our job is to help break down those barriers for you.” It’s an issue marginalized creators know well; social discrimination has always made inclusive filmmaking an uphill battle, one that has only worsened as we’ve seen a rise in hateful rhetoric online and in politics. And especially in 2026, as big studios routinely refuse to take chances on new, diverse voices, it’s becoming harder and harder for underserved artists to make the movies their communities need to see.
Enter Outfest, a yearly festival that brings together thousands of queer film aficionados for a deserved spotlight on these LGBTQ+ stories. Every event promises an exciting lineup of powerful films, and this one is no different; Racster raved about the many features his team was honored to select for the 2026 program. From a time-traveling coming-of-age drama, to a documentary on WNBA player Brittney Griner and her experience as a Russian prisoner, to a mind-bending sex comedy, each offers a unique perspective that viewers couldn’t have experienced otherwise. Christopher spoke excitedly about these and the many other films that would be screened this year, emphasizing how he hopes they’ll move new viewers as much as they’ve moved him.
And that, the Director emphasized, is at the core of not only this festival, but all of Outfest as an organization: the impact of queer film.
The past few years have seen an alarming dip in representation, a hate-fueled shift that has left many queer viewers worried. These depictions aren’t only chances for LGBTQ+ people to see their identities onscreen — although that is absolutely vital — but for society at large to better understand communities outside of their own. This is why Racster and all of Outfest work so diligently throughout the year, with the Director explaining, “Queer film has played the role of making people feel safe and seen when the rest of the world is not safe…[so] if people are going to push back, we have to push back harder.”
“We have to make sure that we are advocating for our storytellers…making sure that we are doing everything we can to afford opportunity for these people, both in front of and behind the screen.”
OutfestNEXT is a powerful tool against these attempts at erasure we’re seeing every day. Christopher Racster spoke about how honored he was to have a hand in creating this influential program, and how Outfest works year-round to assist the artists continuing this fight that early queer filmmakers began so many years ago. Above all else, though, when it came to this festival, Christopher feels that there’s one goal at the center of it, saying, “The real focus for us is joy.”
“We want to create a space where there is some joy and some celebration, both in terms of the films we’re showing and sharing, but also in terms of that opportunity for everybody to really come together and, you know, be in this safe third space that is about celebrating ourselves and each other.” At that, the man smiled, clearly thinking not only about what’s planned for this upcoming OutfestNEXT, but the many great things he and his team are preparing for after.
“There’s still much more to come throughout the rest of the year…and that’s what makes this job so, so much fun.”
OutfestNEXT 2026 will be held July 23-26 at the Los Angeles LGBT Center Renberg Theater and Micro Cinema. You can get your tickets here.
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Discord Addams wants you to say ‘F**k This!’
The ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ alum speaks about her new show and the importance of authenticity.
Discord Addams is a queen of many talents, as any fan who watched her run on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 18 will tell you.
The Florida-based drag queen pumped into this historic program ready to make a mark on the competition. Rocking her trademark ‘high fashion punk rock maximalist’ aesthetic and entertaining viewers with her biting personality (along with a…questionable runway walk), Discord spent each episode turning out not only astounding fashion but hard truths. The performer made it clear early on that she was never scared of sharing her genuine opinions with anyone who would listen. Whether it was judges on the runway or her fellow competitors in the werkroom, Addams always paired her punk rock kindness with a style of harsh sincerity that entertained audiences to no end. When she finished the season in sixth place, there was a whole new slew of fans ready to hear whatever hard truths Discord was ready to spill next.
And, luckily, they didn’t have to wait long. Because WOW Presents Plus recognized that thousands of new fans were still desperate to hear the style of unabashed candor that Discord brought to season 18. And now, with her new series on the platform, F**k This! With Discord Addams, this punk fan-favorite gets to give her audience the one thing they now know to always expect from her: brutal honesty.
“I felt like I was the star of season 18 — you know, whether I won or not,” laughed Addams, as she described what a whirlwind experience of going from a Drag Race contestant to host of her own series. “Getting to have my own show, where I get to talk about literally whatever the fuck I want to talk about, it just…it feels right.” F**k This! takes a relatively simple premise but spices it up with Discord’s ruthless style of candor; each episode sees her sit down in a completely demolished set and rant to the camera about a poignant topic, ranging from fast fashion to the horrific rise of AI. These dialogues are occasionally interrupted by Discord taking calls from her audience about their issues, with the Queen delivering genuinely insightful thoughts on whatever tenuous concept is presented to her.
Discord spoke about how this commitment to complete honesty was passed down to her from her parents, folks who understood the importance of telling their truth. “There was nobody censoring me growing up, so I think it was a natural progression into my standing up for what I feel is right.” It’s this mindset that has led Discord to become one of the most vocal advocates of the entire Drag Race franchise; even before her casting on the show, Addams used her social media to share community resources and speak out against injustices taking place all over the world. This has only increased since her time on season 18, with Addams using the new popularity this show has brought her to speak even more about corrupt politicians, the dangers of ICE, modern-day war criminals, and more.
Addams brings a refreshing willingness to speak about these hard topics that is unfortunately rare in today’s entertainment landscape. In an industry where, sadly, a performer speaking about social issues can hurt their career, Discord makes it clear that her punk nature doesn’t stop at her clothes. She embodies the roots of this subculture, one that began as an affront to modern fascism and has always been meant to challenge the discrimination that too many people take as a given in society. Addams is proud that she’s never silenced herself in order to ‘get ahead’ professionally…and she wishes that more of her fellow queens would do the same.
“I think a lot of the Drag Race girls in the past kind of teetered on a line of what they felt they were or were not allowed to say,” stressed Discord, calling out the many performers who haven’t used their platforms to discuss social issues. “I think there are a lot of drag queens who just censor themselves or like present themselves a certain way that they think is more palatable…people can sense authenticity, and they can also sense when you’re fucking lying to them.”
It’s an issue that has plagued the Drag Race fandom for years, though it isn’t entirely the queens’ fault; online bullying has become so horrific that many contestants are scared that by expressing themselves on the show, they’re inviting torrents of digital hate from so-called ‘fans.’ Yet while this is a valid fear — and something that this fandom desperately needs to work on — Discord reminds everyone through her drag that you don’t succeed by being a fake version of yourself. By refusing to speak about these issues, her fellow queens are hurting the movement and making it so that any success they may seem to have is built on lying to themselves and everyone around them.
It’s a twisted form of ‘winning’ that Discord completely detests, and it’s why she hopes her show, along with being an avenue to express her many feelings, is a lesson on authenticity for everyone watching.
Because while F**k This! Is thoroughly entertaining — it’s hilarious watching how eloquently Addams combines some of the most vile curse words — it is also a genuine lesson on the importance of honesty today. These concepts are ones that Addams struggles with in her own life and that she knows the people watching do as well. Each is selected because she knows they’ll resonate with those watching, and through hilarious rants and some sickening makeup, Discord hopes to use her own voice on these topics to help others do the same.
This is Discord Addams’ true goal with F**k This!: to not only entertain audiences but show them how empowering it is to be completely honest today. And whether you’re a new viewer or one of her longtime fans, Discord has just one lesson she hopes you take away from her new program: “If you’re being your most true, your most authentic self, you’re going to also bring in the most authentic [community]. You’re going to create a circle of people that genuinely want to hear what you have to say — instead of playing a bullshit character.”
F**k This! is now streaming on WOW Presents Plus
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How JP Karliak brings queer power to ‘X-Men ’97’
The voice actor speaks about voicing the MCU’s first nonbinary superhero.
Rarely have we seen a fierce comic book squad-up of LGBTQ+ icons like the X-Men.
Originating in Marvel comics, for decades now, the team’s millions of fans have watched their stories play out both in print and on the silver screen. Thousands of narratives — with even more astounding characters — that offer thrilling adventures, as well as poignant lessons on what discrimination looks like today. Because despite what some Marvel fans may have you believe, these stories about a class of people being disenfranchised by a bigoted society have always been allegories for the discrimination faced by real-life communities. Combine this with its many queer and queer-coded members, and it’s no wonder that LGBTQ+ fans were ecstatic when it was announced that the team’s original series, X-Men: The Animated Series, was being rebooted for Disney+ in 2025.
These viewers were thrilled to once again watch their favorite team of super-powered mutants fight bad guys with campy flair. But when the reboot, X-Men ’97, was released, LGBTQ+ fans were shocked to learn it would also feature the first nonbinary character in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe! Morph, the shapeshifting, wise-cracking mutant from the original series, would return to not only fight villainy but also provide vital representation for millions of nonbinary audience members. And when creating such a monumental figure for this version of the team, X-Men ’97’s creators knew there was only one voice actor who could do the superhero justice: JP Karliak.
“As a kid, I was a huge fan of animated shows like He-Man and Batman: The Animated Series. I was so enamored with voice acting, I felt it couldn’t be a real job!” Laughed Karliak, as they spoke with the Los Angeles Blade to celebrate X-Men ’97’s recent season two premiere. It’s the latest project in their jaw-dropping career; whether it’s voicing the titular professional in Boss Baby: Back in Business or a saucy trophy in video game Date Everything!, Karliak can be heard in many hit franchises. They’ve become known for the tonal whimsy they bring into every role, a trademark talent that has made JP one of the voice acting industry’s top queer actors.
Karliak emphasized how honored they are for this title — especially because of the many issues this industry still has with its LGBTQ+ performers. “There’s a narrow-mindedness in so much of the voice industry that it’s like, ‘Okay, well, we can only let you play this particular thing,’” they explained. “But also just a [person’s] transness shouldn’t determine that they can only voice trans roles or only voice nonbinary roles! In the same way we’ve seen so many cis straight people play cis-het roles, letting queer people play the majority roles only helps us to build long-lasting careers — because there’s no way to do it if we’re only playing queer roles.”
It’s a unique set of issues further complicated by the many problems all voice actors face today, ranging from the rise of AI to big studios’ harmful underpayment practices. It’s because of this that JP established QueerVox, a nonprofit that provides aspiring queer voice performers with the training they need while connecting them with the roles they deserve. From communal job boards to free classes to networking events that help LGBTQ+ artists connect, Karliak spoke proudly of all they’ve done to help make this industry more accessible for all.
Presented with a performer who excels not only in talent but in making a difference, it’s no wonder that the X-Men ’97 team thought JP Karliak would be the perfect voice for Morph! Although the character definitely had a darker backstory than the actor’s usual roles, X-Men: The Animated Series saw Morph turn from the team’s comic relief into the brainwashed henchman of their most sickening villain. This led to the mutant spending much of their original time on the show in recovery, traumatized from having their autonomy ripped from them in a narrative that resonated so deeply with LGBTQ+ fans. Karliak was thrilled to bring back Morph to hopefully give them the joy they deserved, and they were happy to be doing so with the character — one who literally shifts constantly between gender identities — finally using they/them pronouns.
“Knowing from the get-go that this was going to be a nonbinary character now, and as identifying as gender queer myself…I felt so much kinship with this character,” explained JP, as they spoke about how it felt to embody Morph through their voice. “It felt like as long as I was being true to myself, I was doing the character a service.”
It’s a truth that comes through in every line, with JP’s mischievous yet resounding performance style showing in every moment Morph is onscreen. They recognized that this would be one of the first examples of a nonbinary person that viewers would see in animation and wanted to do them justice, saying, “Giving nonbinary characters [like Morph] the ability to be serious, to experience loss and pain, to experience joy — all aspects of humanity! And to not just be relegated to one narrow band of the human experience…it’s just so important.”
This interview took place on the day that it was announced X-Men ’97 would be returning for seasons three and four, which meant fans can expect more years of Morph shapeshifting across their screens. Karliak was ecstatic at this news, and when asked what they hope to explore in these new installments with the character, they said, “In season one, Morph was a less confident version of me, because Morph was really just trying to find where they belonged and feeling accepted, having just rejoined this team and not really knowing what the dynamic was…I think season two finds them much more confident, much more akin to where I find myself, personality-wise. They don’t feel that they always have to use humor to break the tension.”
“So much of Morph’s journey has been dominated by victimization and trauma and so much hurt. I’d love to see them just experience some joy and find friendships and relationships that are really fun, and fulfilling, and beautiful.”
It’s a future for the character that many of their fans hope to see as well. And, luckily for them all, with a talent like JP Karliak voicing the nonbinary mutant, chances are they’ll be getting just that — and so, so much more.
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Lupercio Media turns influencing into advocacy
Founder Carlo Lupercio speaks about helping marginalized creators today
In a digital landscape where social media reigns supreme, few industries are as profitable — or as risky — as the influencer economy.
Becoming an influencer has transformed from a side hobby into a legitimate profession, one that generates millions every year. And that’s putting it lightly; low estimates of profit derived from influencers in 2025 currently sit at 30 million dollars. Whether it be corporations making online celebrities a major part of their marketing or certain users getting paid thousands of dollars for a single post, it’s undeniable that influencers hold power within our often unstable economy.
Which is why the industry’s bias against marginalized creators is so deeply unfortunate.
The bigoted rhetoric that fills many parts of modern society has always (sadly) infected our digital world. It’s an issue that has only grown in recent years, with a combination of hateful users and predatory algorithms making it insurmountably harder for diverse influencers to find their audience online. It’s a harmful trend that continues to stifle the queer voices so many people need to hear right now, and it’s something that Carlo Lupercio fights against through his agency, Lupercio Management.
“We represent specifically Latin as well as LGBTQIA+ creators — creators that are not traditionally represented to the full capacity,” explained Lupercio when he sat down to speak with the Los Angeles Blade. “I serve as their partner but also as their manager, and really am just amplifying and helping them achieve the goals that they want to achieve as creators.” Carlo brings a personal passion to this work; before founding this agency, he worked in influencer marketing for many well-known brands. And it was through these experiences that he learned the term that companies use to keep our communities out of the spotlight: ‘brand safe.’
“There is this stigma of some brands where what is okay for a White gay creator may not be okay for a Brown or Black creator,” Carlo explained. “As a creator, you want to be authentic. You want to show your [truest] self to the internet, because that’s the way that people will follow you…but oftentimes, a brand does not see that as ‘brand safe.’” He detailed the many times he saw this term used against queer and POC influencers, with executives using it as a method of catering to the potential anger of the hateful parts of their audiences.
Carlo got a firsthand look at this phenomenon and how it left many talented people without the opportunities they needed in this cutthroat industry. It made him passionate about fighting against these discriminations to create a way for influencers of any identity to have an equal shot at success — and so, Lupercio Media was born.
Lupercio Media serves as a comprehensive resource for its clients, with each one belonging to a marginalized community (identities that would make many other agencies ignore them completely). Carlo outlined how he works daily with these creatives to understand their dreams and develop plans on how to attain them, helping them in countless ways, ranging from establishing their image to securing brand deals. But beyond these professional duties, Lupercio stressed that he also serves as a personal cheerleader for each of these diverse clients, saying, “There’s obviously the job component — but I am also their partner. I find out who they are as a person outside of [being an influencer]…when you’re working with talent, they’re still people at the end of the day. So really getting to know them personally is a huge role of mine as a manager.”
“I think it’s important for [influencers] to create content that shows who they are…because it’ll only inspire the next person,” emphasized Carlo. “It’ll open up more opportunities, and it will show brands that this is a large demographic in society that they just cannot ignore — despite everything that is going on in the world. Because LGBTQIA+ people are here. They’re present. And they are not going anywhere.”
And that is at the heart of Lupercio Media: the knowledge that managing these people not only helps their careers but also the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. Because social media is growing every single day! And queer users, especially young ones, are constantly searching for people with their identities who show them that they can succeed as their most authentic selves — even if there are many people today telling them they can’t.
Because of the influencer industry’s discriminatory practices, many of these folks searching for inspiration have been historically left wanting. But through Lupercio Media, Carlo works hard to not only give marginalized creatives a platform but also to make sure that everyone has someone they can look up to online.
It may sound laughable to the many folks who still write off influencers and the power they hold. But Lupercio Media recognizes the strength of these individuals and how they can serve as true models of success for countless underserved communities today. Carlo Lupercio works tirelessly to ensure that any creator, no matter their identity, has what they need to offer their followers the representation they need — and all while securing some pretty sweet brand deals along the way.
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The Queer Film Collective makes your favorite movies possible
This LA-based nonprofit unveils its brand new panel series and talks all things film industry.
If we want queer artists to succeed, then there need to be systems that support them.
Unfortunately, providing free resources to aspiring artists hasn’t always been America’s priority. This is even more blatant for marginalized creators; while the U.S. has rarely offered artistic programs the funding they deserve, recent years have seen countless conservative attacks against most kinds of LGBTQ+ creativity. But despite these institutional and social roadblocks, queer creatives have always persisted! No matter what era of film and television we’re in, it’s heartening to watch so many creators fighting to not only make their own projects but also make it easier for other marginalized artists to do the same.
In a city as vibrant as Los Angeles, there are luckily dozens of groups helping to platform underserved filmmakers today. These organizations fight to create a film industry where truly anyone can thrive, and nowhere is that work more visible than within the Queer Film Collective.
Growing from a small networking group into a thriving nonprofit, the Queer Film Collective (QFC) serves as a resource hub for LGBTQ+ directors, actors, and all film and TV professionals in Los Angeles. The LA Blade spoke with QFC’s founder, Ray Taylor, about how important the group’s work is today, emphasizing how it’s more important than ever that we support the people making inclusive media possible. He spoke about the impact of this representation, the experience of trying to create LGBTQ+ films in our current political environment, and, when discussing QFC’s exciting new Summer Panel Series, how he’s excited to foster an LA film industry that gives queer filmmakers the respect they deserve.
“We’re doing everything we can to make it so filmmakers can make their films,” explained Taylor, as he described the whirlwind process his past year with QFC has been. “The Queer Film Collective is a nonprofit that provides resources, opportunities, and education. We focus on four pillars: connect, collaborate, create, celebrate, and our main focus is making it easier for films to be made.” It’s an important mission for not only queer filmmakers but creators in general! The past few decades have seen big studios grow more reluctant to give new creatives a chance (or offer livable wages to the many workers who make their projects possible). And while recent years have shown that not only original ideas but also small creators are essential to improving the film industry, it’s been extremely disheartening to see that this hasn’t changed today.
Ray, an accomplished film director, spoke about how the QFC was created in opposition to this unfortunate phenomenon. He organized the group’s first official meet-up — a small get-together of only a few dozen people — as a space for folks to share advice about navigating this tenuous profession while queer. “The more I talked to people, the more I realized they wanted resources, they wanted opportunities, they wanted to get on sets,” he reminisced. “So I threw together a pitch deck, and I said, ‘All right, here’s my five-year plan. We’re going to become a nonprofit.’ And in January of this year, we got our official 501c3 status, and that five-year plan is now thrown out the window — because everything that was on it has already happened in the first six months of our being alive.”
The Queer Film Collective couldn’t have arrived at a better time because, as Taylor is quick to remind anyone who will listen, inclusive media has always been key in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. The man stressed, “It’s really important to focus on telling these stories that allow queer people to just be seen as people — they’re just everyday people! They experience joy; they experience heartbreak…I think that it’s really important to normalize seeing queer people in media, because the more normal that you see queer people in media, the more normal you will see queer people in life.” And while we’ve been lucky to see allies create inclusive media, Taylor emphasized that it’s only by uplifting queer filmmakers that we ensure this industry continues to make media that our communities can find themselves within.
Whether it be community meet-ups, their constantly evolving job board, or the organization’s constant spotlights on queer projects and individuals, every aspect of the QFC helps create the onscreen representation that so many people need to see. And while each of these facets is integral to the group’s work, Ray has never been more excited for the upcoming resource they’ll be providing LGBTQ+ filmmakers: The QFC Summer Panel Series.
“I wanted an event that we get to do every year, and whatever that is, I wanted it to be impactful,” raved Taylor, as he excitedly described how he and other QFC leadership initially thought of the series. He spoke at length about the many industry professionals they’re honored to have join these panels and, in a shocking rarity for educational opportunities in film, how all of the conversations will eventually be uploaded completely free online. “The conversations that we chose this year we felt were really important because we’re starting our panel series with a whole conversation about queer joy and telling stories beyond trauma, and we’re ending our panel series on a on a panel that’s talking about how to create art in today’s political climate…all of these are hot topics right now, and I think that they need to be told. And I think not only do queer filmmakers need to hear this, but everyone needs to hear.”
As the interview came to an end, it was obvious how ecstatic Ray was to talk about the Summer Panel Series and invite everyone reading to attend. Not just because of what an accomplishment it was — though he proudly listed off the many amazing discussions this series had in store — but what it represented for QFC as a whole. This organization was founded to empower LGBTQ+ filmmakers and help create an industry where not only can inclusive media be easily made, but the people who want to make it actually have the chance to. This panel series caps off an astounding first year of doing just that, with Taylor teasing even more to come in the next few months.
And as a final pitch to encourage folks to come, Ray summarized why this panel series — and all of the Queer Film Collective — is so vital: “I think that queer stories are so important to tell…and not just the ones focused on trauma or coming out! In my opinion, the most important queer stories right now are the ones focused on joy and succeeding in life, because we need to show the world — and not just the world, but also young LGBTQ+ people — that queer people are here. We’re going to survive. We’re going to keep pushing, and nothing’s going to bring us down. And so I think that queer filmmakers need to have those opportunities to tell these stories, because I think that they are so important.”
Summer Panel Series: Thu, Jul 9, 202610:59 AM Thu, Aug 27, 2026 1:00 PM
Join the Queer Film Collective for an 8 week panel series bringing together working filmmakers, writers, and creatives for honest, practical conversations about the realities of the industry today.
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Disney Animator Andreas Wessel-Therhorn talks being queer in animation and preserving the hand-drawn technique for the future
From ‘Tarzan’ to ‘Hercules,’ Wessel-Therhorn has worked on dozens of the animated movies we grew up watching
Andreas Wessel-Therhorn has gotten a rare front-row seat to the endless changes in the animation industry.
From breaking onto the scene in the ’90s through films like The Thief and the Cobbler and A Goofy Movie, to working on rare contemporary films with hand-drawn animation like Mary Poppins Returns and Space Jam: A New Legacy, Wessel-Therhorn has seen work dry up for the artists he grew up dreaming of working alongside.
“It’s a real shame that knowledge is getting lost,” he tells The Blade. “We’re all at the point where we’re either close to retirement or are in retirement already, or people move to other fields. I wonder where this knowledge is going to go.”
With Disney continuing to pump out sequels like Toy Story 5, and the uncertain road ahead with the emergence of AI, Wessel-Therhorn spoke with The Blade about his decades working in entertainment, how he has been able to pivot and continue finding work over the years, and his thoughts on Pixar cutting queer storylines in films like Elio. This interview has been edited and condensed.
What drew you to working in animation, and what are some of your most prominent projects?
As a kid, I was always a big fan of the Disney classics – and by that, I mean the really old ones like Bambi and Cinderella! I always wanted to be a part of that. It was sort of a childhood dream that eventually became a reality, and for some years was quite thrilling. Now, I wasn’t a big natural talent at drawing; it was really something I had to learn. I was lucky that when I was ready, there was a big demand for people who wanted to do hand-drawn animation. I started on a movie called The Thief and the Cobbler in London, then A Goofy Movie in Paris. Then there was a general shift to go to America, as most companies were relocating. Eventually, I got an interview with Disney in London and was offered a job. I came over here for Hercules in 1996, and I worked on Tarzan, Fantasia 2000 and The Emperor’s Groove. Then I moved over to Disneytoon Studios, where I supervised animation on Tarzan II and The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning. Apart from Disney, I went outside and worked on Looney Tunes: Back in Action, both Space Jam movies, Tom and Jerry movies, and a bunch of commercials.
I grew up watching many of those, so it’s really cool to hear your credits. You were one of the last ink and paper illustrators and got to see the transition to 3D animation and digital. How did that impact the work you were doing? Were you able to pivot?
This is just my impression — when the studio pivoted to CGI, they did not do a great job of preparing or training us as they did at DreamWorks. It was pretty much learn on your own time, if you have any. I got into this because of hand-drawn animation, and it took me long enough to learn how to draw, so I want to stick with that. That’s my love. For a long time afterward, there was still enough work for me because while there was not as much work around, there was also a smaller pool of people. For quite a few years, I was doing quite well with independent stuff, working on union and non-union stuff, whatever came along. It’s only really in the last two to three years that it has dried up completely. 2D work is usually sent out to either Canada or Europe. Suddenly, a lot of us who were hanging on by our fingernails are suddenly faced with the reality that there’s not enough work around. I pivoted a little bit to book illustrations and did quite a few of those. Thankfully, I’m not at the start of my career but sort of at the tail end. Now I want to concentrate on mentoring and doing my own short films.
It’s a shame because character animation of the kind Disney, DreamWorks and other smaller studios did is the one true American art form. Animation is done all over the world, but that kind of character animation was absolutely unique to the United States. It’s a real shame that knowledge is getting lost. We’re all at the point where we’re either close to retirement or are in retirement already, or people move to other fields. I wonder where this knowledge is going to go.
I saw the director of Hoppers post some of the early hand-drawn footage, and it looked really beautiful. People were commenting online, wondering why the movie wasn’t done in 2D.
Even some of the main supervising animators at Disney who were kept on were basically doing experimental or guide animation for the CG animators — their actual drawings never saw the light of day. For a while, it was good for them because they kept their paycheck. Artistically, it must have been utterly depressing to do stuff that no one is ever going to see.
For 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns, which you worked on, Disney had to bring back many hand-drawn artists for the animated sequence. What was that experience like?
A lot of friends from the industry, we were suddenly back in one room. There’s the sound of people flipping paper all day. The director, Rob Marshall, insisted that the piece of animation would be hand-drawn to match the original. We had a young character designer with an updated, modern version of the characters.
Were you surprised when you got the call and heard they were asking for hand-drawn animation after all these years?
Pleasantly surprised, I would say. I’m sure someone suggested going the CGI route. It has a different kind of charm to CGI. It’s a great sequence in the movie. I was a bit skeptical at first, thinking “how can you follow up Mary Poppins?”
What has your experience been navigating the animation space as a queer person?
I always had a pretty good time, I have to say. I hardly ever ran into problems, certainly not with management, because there were a lot of queer people in management, especially at Disney. I heard it was quite different in the ’80s, but not in the ’90s; [when I started], it was a very open and welcoming situation there. It’s a very odd mix of people who get drawn into animation. Most gay guys I know worked in production, but not in animation itself. We have a few exceptions, of course, but there was this weird mix of very liberal and religious people.
What I’m missing, unfortunately, is a lot more gay-themed animation. You may have seen that piece from the boss [Pete Docter] at Pixar, which was a ridiculous statement, to be honest, because the kid in Elio would have had a few certain traits from which you may infer he’s gay later. To put that out there and say “we cut the storyline” is ridiculous. I did two short films based on a German gay comic artist, and they did quite well in animation festivals. But even then, they often only did well in gay festivals. It still seems to be put into a certain corner. A few years ago, there was this really sweet CGI short by two young people called In a Heartbeat, which I loved! It not only should have had a nomination; in my book, it would have won, and it didn’t get nominated.
What did you think of the Oscar-nominated animated shorts this year and the winner, The Girl Who Cried Pearls?
Well, it wasn’t my winner. All five had merit and, in the end, it comes down to personal taste and what people like the best — of the people who actually watch them. Especially with features, so many people ask their kids what they would vote for, which explains some of the choices.
As we’ve been talking about your career and you look back on films you’ve been part of, what work are you most proud of?
I loved working on Tarzan because I worked on the mom character. Many mother characters in Disney movies are usually dead already! I was able to use personal experience from things my mom used to do. Sometimes the movie doesn’t turn out to be a big hit, but it was great fun working on Looney Tunes: Back in Action. The live-action was so poor, though, that it didn’t do very well.
You mentioned wanting to mentor younger animators. What are you hoping to teach, and why are you focused on mentorship at this point in your career?
There’s knowledge I got from other people that I want to impart so it doesn’t go away. There are people interested! Studying animation, or anything, is so expensive in this country. If I can help someone for free and they get something out of it, it’s [for the] better. I never understood the college system here, as opposed to what was in Germany. When I finished school and went to study design, that’s all I was doing 100% of the time. Apart from art history, that was it; everything was practical. Whereas here, students spend at least 50% of their time redoing the stuff they’re supposed to know already. They’re taking English and geography again, which is ridiculous, and then they hardly have any time to learn what they’re there to learn. Sometimes I look over student portfolios; they’re in their final year, and I have a hard time finding anything that qualifies them for working in the industry.
There’s so much information now available on the internet. It’s just there — tutorials, all kinds of helpful things to reference, all the stuff you used to have to go to the library for. There’s really no need to spend tens of thousands of dollars going to college. You can do it yourself if that’s what you want to do.
I don’t work in animation, but I can vouch for the mentors who have helped shape me as a writer. I’m sure people would be lucky to learn from you and all your experience, so it’s great you want to pass down that knowledge.
When I started out, I had a graphic design mentor who later became a production designer on Mulan and other Disney movies. He was really brutal with his comments on my first portfolio. I mean, I almost gave up the whole thing! But it was so important for me to hear that. From your friends and your parents, “Oh, that looks great! You’re really good,” until a professor tells you, “Start again; none of this is usable.” That’s the crux — when you continue at that point and work through it.
As we wrap up, is there anything else you want to say, or anything on your mind about the current state of animation?
Going back to movies that were actually good, did you see Nimona?
I need to see that!
That was a feature with a very queer storyline that didn’t get much attention, especially from the right-wingers, because it wasn’t Disney. If it’s Disney, they jump on it — the slightest whiff of something queer, and they go crazy. The two main guys in Nimona are a couple, which makes story sense because at one point they become adversaries; since they also share a love, it makes it that much more poignant and makes the stakes higher.
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Yona Speidel and the future of trans television
The ‘Pose’ and ‘The Boroughs’ writer on what she hopes for the future of queer media.
Thousands of queer viewers are huge fans of Yona Speidel — they may just not know it yet.
This is due largely to the fact that, up until a few months ago, Speidel went by a different name professionally: Lady J. It’s Lady J who’s credited as a producer and writer on Transparent, one of the first mainstream TV series to center a transgender woman as its protagonist. And when the series Pose began in 2018, it was Lady J who served as a member of the program’s central creative team, writing and producing nearly every episode to develop the onscreen refuge that thousands of fans still see the show as today.
It can’t be understated how much of an impact Lady J had on modern television. But just recently, fans were shocked to hear that she’d be retiring…her name, that is. The artist assured everyone that she still planned to create programs that completely shift how certain identities are portrayed in the media. She will continue the vital work she’d already been doing for years, only now, she’s ready to do it under her true name: Yona Speidel.
“Lady J is a showgirl name, and I’m not really doing that anymore,” laughed Speidel, as she spoke with the LA Blade about the decision to change her professional moniker. “At one point, I did wear sparkly sequin bras and perform in drag clubs — but I’ve aged out of that a little bit. And as a writer, director, and producer in Hollywood, I thought it was time to retire ‘Lady J’ and just go with my day-to-day name.”
And though she’s only been working for around a year with this ‘new’ name, Yona already has some impressive credits under her belt; she currently works as a writer and executive producer on the acclaimed Netflix series, The Boroughs, which has been applauded for its mixture of sci-fi horror and biting social critique. This is all in addition to the ample work she did as Lady J, with Speidel reminding fans that she is still the ingenious creative they knew and loved before. That dynamic artistry has always been a part of the woman, with Yona saying, “I always had ‘the flair,’ and it stood out from a very young age…I learned to hide it for survival.”
“I grew up in Amish country, Pennsylvania, and my family came from an old order of Mennonites, though they left many generations ago,” Speidel explained. “It was hard in the 1980s growing up with AIDS in the headlines, and all the homophobia that was happening in the world to blame gay people for this disease. [That] manifested in school, so there was a lot of bullying…the ‘flair’ was just something that I learned to temper down, and I had to be careful where I showed it. And then as the world progressed…I let it out.”
She described using music as an escape from her harsh community, avoiding chores on her family’s farm by spending hours each day practicing the piano. It was a talent that took Yona abroad for college and, eventually, to New York City, where she spent years as a professional musician while finally living as the proud trans woman she is today.
It was during her time in New York that Speidel began to write and direct, becoming a part of the city’s vibrant theater scene and helping put on numerous productions. It was just as she had begun to explore what being a producer could look like that she was asked to join the team of Transparent, a new show that promised to ‘completely change how trans people were portrayed on television.’ Excited at this possibility — and ready to ensure the series was actually accurate — Yona joined the program.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Whether it be the plight of queer people of color during the AIDS epidemic in Pose or how society mistreats the elderly in The Boroughs, Yona’s career is defined by amplifying the voices too many overlook today. This is in addition to serving as a trailblazer every day as an out trans woman in the entertainment industry, with the producer emphasizing, “It’s up to us to really test the waters. [We have to ask,] ‘Is it safe for me to be out at work? Is it safe for me to be all of me?’” She explained that at the beginning of her career, it wasn’t, and that’s why so much of her early work is focused more on introducing the general concept of LGBTQ+ identity through straightforward storytelling.
But she reminds everyone reading that it was a long time ago. Through her current work, she hopes to create an entertainment industry where underserved narratives are given center stage, where they’re allowed to challenge what general audiences are taught about their communities. It’s why she continues to create TV shows that center marginalized folks — because she knows that by introducing these voices today, it will be so much easier for them to take the spotlight again tomorrow.
Yona’s is a vital kind of advocacy that, as we see more attacks against all kinds of LGBTQ+ voices (especially trans folks), we need more than ever. She emphasized that she understands how scary it can feel being a queer creative right now, but that is exactly why artists need to continue introducing these stories that nobody else could have ever thought of! As someone who’s spent a majority of her life navigating this tenuous industry, Yona advised her fellow artists, “Shut out the negativity as much as you can. That’s a luxury if you can do that, but if you can take the luxury, do it. Be present with your friends and with your family, and with the people who love you. Feel that love, be embraced by that love. And don’t neglect that love in favor of anxiety and what-ifs.”
It’s advice that Lady J followed, allowing her to create such monumental pieces of television — and it’s what she’ll continue to live by as she does even more for her queer community today as Yona Speidel.
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Television loses a legend and longtime ‘Will & Grace’ director James Burrows
Iconic hitmaker leaves behind a legacy of telling LGBTQ stories
You don’t have to be a pretentious film major to name 10 movie directors. But naming television directors is not that simple. They’re the unsung heroes of your favorite shows, and the late James Burrows was the television director. He passed on June 19, 2026, but his DNA runs through television history.
He directed over 1200 episodes of television and over 50 pilots. He co-created Cheers and directed many episodes of long-running series like Friends, Taxi, Frasier, The Big Bang Theory, and Two and a Half Men. You also may remember him from playing a heightened version of himself on the Lisa Kudrow comedy The Comeback.
He has left an indelible mark on the LGBTQ community. As recently as last year, he directed the series run of Mid-Century Modern starring Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and Linda Lavin. He was also a longtime director of Will & Grace and directed every episode of the series revival. He even directed the unaired Absolutely Fabulous pilot with Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Johnston, and Zosia Mamet.
Not to mention he’s worked with queer icons throughout history, including Betty White and Stockard Channing on their single-season series, and Jennifer Coolidge in 2 Broke Girls.
He started his career on shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Laverne & Shirley, and the first four seasons of Taxi.
He continued to work steadily and directed successful pilots that went to series for Roc, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Dharma & Greg, and Wings. He directed multiple episodes of Friends, Caroline in the City, and Frasier.
This magic continued into the 2000s with him directing the pilots for Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, and multiple episodes of Mike & Molly, and the entire return series of Will & Grace.
What was the secret to his success? He’d enact the “fun clause” in his contract. In his words, “Life is too short to deal with obnoxious leads,” He shared. “So as long as the writing is good and the cast is fun, I’m going to enjoy the experience.”
He had the magic touch, having multiple pilots turned into long-running series. He was nominated for an Emmy 24 times in 26 years and worked consistently until a year before his death.
The secret was the way he brought the cast together. He describes, “it was my job to mold them into an ensemble, and they did round into a group of people who loved each other.”
This earned him 11 Emmy Awards and 5 Directors Guild of America Awards, including being awarded the inaugural DGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Television Direction.
In a 2003 interview by the Television Academy, he was asked how he wants to be remembered, and he said, “That every night forever you can tune in somewhere, and there’ll be a show I did.”
He’s survived by his wife, Debbie, four daughters, seven grandchildren, and the countless people whose careers he launched and the countless viewers he inspired with his television legacy.
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